


über gott und die welt plaudern

by bicarolina



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Wedding Planning, background roy/riza i guess probably, dress shopping is a pain especially if you're not a traditional person, talks of religion and god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23917474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bicarolina/pseuds/bicarolina
Summary: Winry and Riza plan a wedding.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	über gott und die welt plaudern

“What do we have in the book?” Riza asks, riffling through the pages on the table. There’s a dress catalogue, a couple mock-ups for flower designs, and a flyer for bands. 

“Guests are established, but I’m sure that number is flexible,” Winry tells her, setting a piece of paper with names on it on the table. She would have imagined that there would be two lists, but since Winry and Ed share most of the same acquaintances, it’s just one long list. “I have had seven different men offer to give me away.”

Riza smiles. “I’m sure they’re falling all over themselves for the opportunity.”

“Yeah, but Granny is handing me off. Only seems right.”

Riza nods. “I’m sure they understand.”

“Major Armstrong’s letter was tearstained.” Winry says drily, but there’s a smile gracing her lips. “There are a lot of people watching out for us, even after all this time.” She toys with a piece of fabric that she’d likely gotten as a sample for a dress. “What do you think of this?”

Riza sidles over to her and feels the fabric. It catches on her hands the same way it does on Winry’s. “You should be able to run your hands over your dress without having to worry about your callouses ruining it.”

Winry nods. “There’s a dress shop up the line in New Optain I was considering. And Ed just happened to pick this catalogue up when he was bothering the General in Central last.” She pulls the catalogue out from the mess of the table. “I always have my mother’s dress, too.” She gets a longing look in her eyes.

Riza understands her distress. It’s a bit of a show, and she’s likely trying to put on a good show, since a good quarter of the military might decide to show up. Wearing her mother’s dress would likely make someone cry. Whether it be her, or her grandmother, or someone else, Riza could only imagine that many residents of Resembool that will be attending Winry’s wedding would have also attended her parents’.

Winry absently turns through the catalogue. “None of these dresses feel like me,” she says sadly. “Don’t get me wrong, I like to get dolled up, but… these feel too nice, you know? And it’s such a waste.”

“You don’t have to wear an absurd white dress. I can only imagine the hems would get muddied.” Maybe her guess on Winry’s feelings was a little off, but the distress is obvious. Some of it melts, and Riza feels like she’s accomplished something. “What if it was something silver?”

Winry hums. “I’m listening.”

“I don’t think you and Ed fit any sort of tradition,” which gets her a small chuckle, “so I think it would make sense for you to simply do what you want.” Riza pictures how she didn’t have proper black to wear to her father’s funeral, only dark blue, but it’s not as though that mattered. “Who’s going to scold you?”

“You’re right. Maybe just a simple silver skirt with an overlay of dyed lace? I’m sure someone in town would be happy to do that for me.” Winry hums. “Lace-only shoulders?”

Riza nods. “That would be pretty.”

“It’s not like Ed will care, either. I could show up in a potato sack and he’d be fumbling all over himself to say something about how nice I looked.” Winry laughs, almost to herself. “Okay, I’ll maybe sketch something up and talk to Taylor about it. She’ll have endless suggestions.”

“So we can set that aside for now,” Riza says. “Venue is out back, right?”

Winry nods. “And reception will also be outside.”

Riza mentally runs through the list. “Dinner?”

“That’s up to Ed,” Winry tells her. “I’ll look over it when he’s done and tweak it.”

“Bridesmaid dresses?”

Winry scowls. “Anything relating to textiles is being rescheduled to next weekend.”

Riza laughs. “I understand. Flowers?”

“Mm,” Winry looks at the paper sketches. “What’ll be in season?”

“You can get out-of-season flowers if you want.” 

“I don’t think I want to. I don’t want this to be some over-the-top celebration. I just want to celebrate being officially tied to Ed forever.”

“Officially?”

“He was already tethered to me whether he wanted to be or not. I’m his mechanic. Now I’m firstly his wife, secondly his mechanic.” Winry twirls her wrench around her finger. “Actually, they may be tied. They definitely would be if he still had an automail arm.”

Riza smiles. “I see.” And it was certainly easy to see. Winry’s found this far-off look, and it’s really quite enamoring. “So, flowers are a regional assortment.”

Winry nods. “Whatever we can get day before without importing.”

“Next: the priest.”

Winry groans and drops her head to the table at the title. “God, I forgot about that part.”

“Ed doesn’t want a priest?” It shouldn’t surprise her, she doubted that any alchemist wanted a God-fearing man at their wedding, but she figured that Ed would bend to Winry’s wishes.

“You know how he is, all _I’m a scientist and I punched God in the face, do you think I need religion?_ We’ve squabbled over it a half dozen times already.” 

Riza nods. “All those men who offered to give you away? I’m sure one of them would be willing to act as the officiant.”

Winry hums. “But I want a priest. Not all of us are godless alchemists.”

Ah. That’s the problem. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a strong attachment to any sort of religion.”

Winry shakes her head. “Me neither, really, but I think it would be rude to exclude God from my ceremony. I wouldn’t say that I believe in one specific god, like Ishvala, but rather some sort of higher being that guides our hands. I made bacon this morning, so now I’ll have sausage tomorrow, because something in my brain said I wanted bacon today. Things like that.” She doesn’t make eye contact as she speaks, almost as though it’s embarrassing. “I went into town yesterday a little later because I had some cleaning, and I ran into my friend Nelly at the hardware store. Little divine interventions like that.”

She’s thought of many things, but she’s never thought much of how a higher power interacts with her person. “I haven’t thought on God or gods much in my life. Or, at least not recently.” She doesn’t feel like she has the right to claim any sort of higher power. “Maybe there is. Maybe there isn’t. I don’t think we tiny humans could comprehend whatever God may be. Maybe in little pieces, but not as a whole.”

There’s a pause to Winry’s hands. “I like to think that I’ve ended up where I am due to my ability, but I also think I’ve ended up in the right places at the right times. And part of being in the right place at the right times comes back to Ed. I don’t know if I’d be where I am with my career without him.”

Maybe she has a point. She has always ended up with connections to the right people, acting at the right times, and it’s helped her be independent in her business. Riza cannot say that the General, or even Ed, were any different. “Have you told Ed any of this?”

Winry shakes her head. “I haven’t, no.”

“Tell him. I think he’ll listen, and, if you’re lucky,” and she gives Winry a small smile, “he’ll actually understand.”

She nods in response. “Maybe not even a priest, but maybe, just, someone who observes some sort of god. I just don’t want them to be offended if I don’t at least acknowledge their presence.”

Riza could understand that. “Talk to him. He values your opinion.” She’s seen him talk about her like she’s the sun and he’s stuck in her orbit, bragging about what companies are trying to sponsor her and how business is going great. She loves how Ed talks about his fiancée, absorbing his positivity for herself. It’s infectious, how his love spreads to those around him. 

“I will. Thank you, Riza.” Winry squeezes her hand. “I had no idea this would be so complicated. Thank you for helping.”

“It’s nothing, really. I make the General’s schedules and make him follow them.” She wonders how she’s still sane, after all these years. He’s always trying to duck out on meetings he doesn’t want to attend, and only occasionally does she have to threaten to shoot him. 

She wouldn’t trade it for the world, she supposes, despite all her grumping about his work ethic.

Winry grins. “Well, I think it’s a superpower. I’d be lost without you.”

“I think you would’ve gotten it together eventually.” Winry doesn’t give herself enough credit, Riza thinks. She’s as magical as Ed paints her to be. “You’re organized; I think this is just overwhelming for you because it’s about you.”

“And I think you’re so level-headed because it _isn’t_ about you,” Winry counters. “List of things to do next week is: one, talk to Taylor about dresses; two, talk to a florist about summer bouquets and arrangements; three, talk to Ed about theology.” Winry groans. “Can we make it two weeks?”

“Absolutely not, because two weeks will turn into three, and three into four, and so on.” She hates to repeat nearly verbatim a phrase she uses on the General regularly, but she knows Winry is reasonable. She knows that putting it off won’t solve anything. “But if some things bleed into the weekend after next, I won’t tell.”

Winry is nothing but smiles today. “I think we’ve earned lunch, don’t you?”

“We’ve certainly tacked quite a few roadblocks. We could go talk to Taylor after lunch together, if you’d like.” Riza likes spending time with Winry. She’s almost like a little sister that Riza never had, and if that feeling leads her to sitting through a meeting with a seamstress, insisting her dress has a high neck, then she will. 

They eat their sandwiches together, and they talk about God and the world.

**Author's Note:**

> "über gott und die welt" is the original phrase, it means "about god and the world" and is typically used alongside an informal "talk" verb, like plaudern or quatschen or any of the seventeen million other regional verbs for chat. it's not really an idiom, i think, it's similar to how we use "anything and everything." 
> 
> should i collect these in a series? absolutely not. will i? maybe.


End file.
